A container-processing system typically includes a conveying system to move containers from one place to another. Such a system often has a set of star wheels. The star wheels suspend containers on peripheries thereof.
The star wheels are placed adjacent to each other and made to rotate in opposite directions. At the point where two adjacent star wheels are tangent, it is possible for a container to be transferred from one star wheel to the next. This makes it possible to move the container along a sinuous path from one star wheel to the next.
Conveying systems of this type must be assembled, cleaned, and maintained. It is therefore useful to design such a system so that these tasks are easier to carry out.
A container conveyor can include a front table, a container inlet, and a container outlet of a container treatment machine with the machine frame of which the columnar or tubular conveyor element housing of a conveying element is mechanically connected by a connection element.
In other examples, a container conveyor forms a container-conveying segment with at least two conveying elements that are connected to one another in a container-conveying direction and to which columnar or tubular conveying-element housings are mechanically connected by at least one connecting element to form a conveying-element combination or a container-conveying segment.
The conveying element is preferably configured for conveying in a way that applies no force to the container's base. An example of this would be conveying suspended containers.
A typical conveying element is a star that rotates about a vertical machine axis. The star has container receptacles for suspending containers. In the case of bottles, the receptacles suspend the bottles from a flange or neck ring formed at the bottle's neck.
A container-conveying segment can comprise a plurality of conveying stars or conveying elements connecting to one another in a container conveying direction. These stars can have different diameters. In such container conveying segments, it is useful to promote precise alignment of the elements carrying, guiding, and conveying the containers and to provide the simplest possible access to the container conveying segment for cleaning, repair, or inspection.